Wills and Probate

Dear Len & Rosie,

My father-in-law is a shrewd businessman who owns hundreds of acres of land and is worth millions. He's also difficult to talk to and says he has a will, end of story. He says he doesn't care what the kids have to go through after he dies because he'll be dead! My husband has three other siblings, two who live on Dad's property.

My husband also has an unpaid child support arrearage from 20 years ago when he was in an accident and didn't know that he had to go to court to stop support payments while he was injured. When my father-in-law passes away, there will be a big mess.

Is there anything we can do? My husband's siblings want to sell it all after their father's death and pocket the money, but they seem blissfully unaware of taxes and probate

Rene

Handling an Insolvent Estate

My wife's brother recently died. As nearest kin, she's handling his affairs and hopes to keep it as simple as possible. Mostly, his affairs are very simple: no spouse, no real estate, and no bank accounts. We have already cleaned out his apartment and directed that his mail be forwarded to us. He owned a new truck, on which more is still owing than we could sell it for. Also, it appears he had a few credit cards with balances owing. Are we responsible for these things? How should we proceed?

Kent